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September29th , 2010 VOL. 22 - Nº 3 Saint Michael the Archangel St. Michael the Archangel Patron of the Maryknoll Brothers and the Society 1 of Maryknoll September 29th, 2010 Maryknoll Brothers History (From 1911 to the Present) The Beginnings Rome, Hawthorne and Ossining Rome, Italy In the spring of 1911 Father Thomas Frederick Price (Wilmington, North Carolina) and Father James Anthony Walsh (Boston, Massachusetts) having been given permission by the American Hierarchy to establish a seminary went to Rome to obtain the blessing of the Holy See. On the 29th of June they met with Pope Pius X. He granted their petition to establish a foreign mission seminary in the United States. This would become the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers. After this meeting Father Walsh went to the Austrian Alps (the Tyrol) for some much needed rest and to take the water cures. At the same time Father Price went to France, to fulfill his ever present dream to visit the shrine Lourdes, in order to visit the family of Saint Bernadette, with whom he had been in correspondence for many years and to make another visitation in order to pray at Saint Bernadette’s tomb in Nerves. While he was in the mountains, Father Walsh met a young man who was working near the hotel he was staying at. They began to talk and it came out that the young man was a former Mill Hill seminarian. He had left the seminary due to illness. He expressed to Father Walsh that he still had a desire to work for the missions. Father Walsh invited him to come to the United States and to Maryknoll. Before the young man’s arrival Father Walsh wrote to the Superior of the Mill Hill Society informing him of his chance encounter with the young man. Perhaps it was here that the idea of a Brotherhood was born to Father Walsh. In his writings for 1911, Father Walsh has nearly four pages in his handwriting on his concept of a Missionary Brotherhood of Saint Michael or the Auxiliary Brothers of Saint Michael that would be attached to the fledgling seminary. Many of which were later incorporated into the Auxiliary Brothers of Saint Michael (Maryknoll Brothers). Hawthorne, New York Once back in the United States Fathers Walsh and Price established Maryknoll in Westchester County just north of New York City, in the village of Hawthorne, NY. There with the help of the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne and the Dominican community they spent their first year in rented buildings in the village of Hawthorne. After the first three priests, Father James Anthony Walsh (Boston Massachusetts), Father Thomas Frederick Price (Wilmington, North Carolina) and Father John I. Lane (Boston, Massachusetts), and the early Theresians, a group of lay women who eventually became the Maryknoll Sisters and before the first seminarians arrived at Maryknoll. A small group of men came to this community they were the first Maryknoll Brothers. These were men who wished to be a part of this growing movement but who did not feel they were called to an ordained ministry. So from March until September the first group of Maryknollers were the three priests, three women called Theresians who eventually became the Maryknoll Sisters, and three older men who were the beginnings of what became the Maryknoll Brothers. 2 The first of these men was Ernst Hollger the former Mill Hill seminarian from Austria. Father Walsh invited him to come and join the fledgling community which he did in March of 1912. Shortly after that in early April a young man, Thomas McCann from Brooklyn wandered up the road to offer his services and was invited to join the group, he moved to Hawthorne in June. He was followed by a man from Boston, Frederick Maguire, a printer by trade. The only one of these first three men to stay and make perpetual commitment to Maryknoll was Brother Thomas McCann the Brooklynite. He worked for most of his time at Maryknoll, NY. It is interesting to note that the first seminarian was also from the Diocese of Brooklyn, Francis Xavier Ford. Ernst Hollger eventually left to join a Diocese in Iowa and Frederick Maguire returned home but kept in touch with Maryknoll for many years. There is a story of Brother Thomas from the early days of Maryknoll at Hawthorne. It appears that Brother Thomas had a great sweet tooth and one day after taking Father James Anthony Walsh to the train station, he stopped to pick up two Boston Cream pies, before returning to the houses that were the first community’s dwellings. He came to the home used by the secretaries with the two pies. The women were happy to share in the bounty. They were left holding the pies while Brother Thomas went for a knife. There was a knock at the door, and much to their surprise, when it was opened Father Walsh and another priest was at the door. It seems while Father Walsh was waiting for his train to New York, one pulled in from New York, with a visitor to Maryknoll and Father Walsh escorted him back to the rented homes that were the first residences of Maryknoll. The ladies were standing there with the pies and Brother Thomas beat a hasty retreat through a window. The early work was one of doing any job that came long. There was a tent below the men’s house where the Brothers kept a fire going to heat bath water and dish washing water. Brother Thomas was not knowledgeable about using wood for this purpose and he often filled the tent with smoke as he put green wood on the fire. Ossining, New York In the fall of 1912, the three Brothers helped in the move from Hawthorne to the site in Ossining, which soon became known as Maryknoll, NY. After the move during the first weeks in September the small community had mass together after their first night at the new home. Priests, Brothers and the first six seminarians were all housed in the old farmhouse. Brother Thomas was back and forth between the two sites for nearly a month, picking up furniture and goods and visiting the Secretaries. He is remembered as having a wonderful tenor voice and many days he was the core of the entertainment for the small group, both at Hawthorne and also at Maryknoll. In December of 1915 there is mention of Brother Thomas and Frederick being part of an impromptu band that serenades the secretaries for St. Stephen’s day. He was also a companion to Father Price on many of the earliest promotion dates that Father Price undertook for the community. In the symposium on Father Price there are a few stories about this relationship. One even has reference to Brother Thomas’ fondness for sweets and Father Price’s parsimonious nature. 3 The relationship with the early groups at Maryknoll, priests, seminarians, Sisters and Brothers was always something everyone commented on. It was a true family spirit that pervaded everything that was done. It can also be seen in the letters that passed between the Brothers from those early days and Mother Mary Joseph; while formal they always had a friendly tone to them. Brother Thomas accompanied Father Price in the early days of Maryknoll when Father Price was going around giving talks on mission, fundraising and vocations. Brother Thomas, in most cases was not allowed to stay in the rectories. He found a room at a boarding house. Every morning when they started the next trip to another parish, Brother Thomas always presented Father Price with enough money for the room and also a little extra to add to the growing funds for Maryknoll. Father Price, ever the practical man, asked how this money was raised and Brother Thomas innocently replied That he would look in the local newspaper for death notices or particular occasions that were occurring in the town, and he would then attend the gathering or wake and with his beautiful tenor voice sing a song or two. This would then give rise to a spontaneous collection by the attendees or mourners which Brother Thomas would then present to Father Price the following morning. Father Price soon put a stop to that source of income as not being the best thing for a Brother to do. On another day as they were eating at a train station, Brother Thomas asked if he could have a piece of pie and coffee to end the meal. Father Price asked how much for coffee and pie from the waiter. Upon hearing the reply Father Price said that back where he was from you could get a pot of coffee and a whole pie for that amount of money. The reply from the waiter was well you aren’t there anymore. It appears that Brother Thomas got his pie, and Father Price a lesson that things were not always equal. The early years were all centered at Maryknoll, New York. The Mill Hill Society was very helpful in the early days by lending some of their priests to help in formation of the fledgling community. A Father McCabe was made the first director of the Brothers. The Dominican Community lent the aid of two priests Father Callan and Father McHugh both of whom remained with Maryknoll until their deaths, as well as the Archdiocese of New York who supplied Father Phelan a former priest who was now pastor in Brewster, New York. It was here that the growing community worked to establish strong roots.

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